DISCOVERY - WHERE TO START?

The first questions to get answers to are:

• Why do I need this website?


• Who am I trying to reach?


• What are my most important messages?


• What do I want my audience to do on my site?


• How will this website contribute to a stronger relationship between me and my reader?

This is a process of discovery of why, who and what?

CREATING CONTENT

Content is so much more than words. It can be pictures, videos, quizzes, forms, lists, product catalogues, diagrams, flowcharts and more.

Like me, you no doubt have little interest in pages of words because we have become scan readers. My blog has some tips on writing, writing for search engines:

Think of this step like you would about writing a rough draft of your project. Soon you'll be thinking of the structure for the site - or perhaps it is already taking shape at the back of your mind.

At this stage you may also be thinking about how this will all look - colours, style, layout etc. but hold your horses. The plan and structure come first.

NAVIGATION

Your site has to be easy to navigate, Help users by making things easy to find.
What will be the main categories or sections of your website? Do you want to allow for adding more categories later? Will there be sub-sections to your main topics?

Levels

A website works in levels: A main level, which is the home page of the site; secondary pages which will be the opening pages to your main sections and possible third and fourth level pages. Keep in mind that web users are generally lost after three clicks.

Landing Pages

Your website may have various levels, but you cannot assume that these levels will always be hierarchical. Because of search engines or links others may post to specific pages in your website, a visitor may land on a page inside your site first. These are referred to as "landing pages" and think of these as the opening page to a chapter in a book. It still has to make complete sense to the visitor who does not see your home page.

Map the Flow

Navigation can be developed in various ways.

• Enter it in cells in a spreadsheet to indicate the flow;
• draw a flow chart;
• use Post-it sticky notes on your wall and write a topic on each - move them around until you're happy with the flow of your site and then type it out.

Pick the way that works for you.

Up to this point you do not need the help of a graphic designer, web designer or web developer yet. You can do this pre-planning on your own or with your colleagues.

DESIGN

Your flowchart of navigation is very important in the design process. Get the help of a graphic designer that has experience with web design or get a specialized web designer.

Explain:

1. Your brand, your brand identity and the look and feel you'd like to see.


2. The feelings your want to evoke in your audience.


3. Examples of website styles that you like.


4. Who your audience is (this may determine which colours are not good to use or what font size will be too small)


5. Who your competitors are - you generally want to make sure you differentiate yourself from them.

Provide your designer with a vector version of your logo (if you have one) and any photographs you have that can be useful for the design.

Get a design for your Home Page (Top Level), a different design for your second level page and yet a different design for your third level page. A consistent design will generally be used for each level.

Get more than one design concept from your designer so that you can make a choice. Then select a design and ask for any tweaks or changes you want. Specifically look at how the navigation is designed and whether it will be easy to get your visitors to do what you intend on the site. It is generally a good plan to have your contact information very easy to find.

PROGRAMMING

Once a design is finalized, it is ready for a web programmer. At Applecore we create a set of storyboards first. Storyboards are paper representations of what will happen on each web page: Content, actions, links, functionality, and the titles and descriptions search engines will read on this page. Any other specific instructions for the programmer is also noted on the storyboard page. These can be a big help to the programmer but are not essential - depending on the relationship with your programmer and the process of working together.

Ask the Right Questions First

Go through the list of things to ask your web developer before you start and ensure that the programming language that will be used is efficient and easy to update by other programmers in future. (PHP, ASP.net, Django are examples)

CMS or no CMS?

Another choice to make is whether your site will be developed with its own Content Management System (CMS) which will allow you to update or change your own content once the site is complete. It may be more costly upfront, but it will translate into savings later.

Integrate Social Media

Also discuss with your programmer how your social media (such as a blog, Facebook Page or Twitter account) that you already have, can be integrated into the site. You may want your blog posts to appear on your site or your Twitter feeds (tweets) to appear on your front page.

Preparing Templates

Your programmer will now take the design templates who are essentially flat images like a print on a sheet of paper, and cut them into small pieces that can be built into a web template before continuing with programming.

Content Layout

Entering Content: Your web programmer may enter all web content you provided in electronic format or he/she may design the structure with a content management system and you get to enter the content yourself. This is a discussion to be had with the developer.

TESTING

This important phase often gets less attention than it should. After the technical team/programmer completed testing it is your turn.

1. Check for spelling and typos.


2. Are the page titles, descriptions and keywords entered on each page?


3. Do your images have alternate text (Alt-tags) on them?


4. Is the layout correct and easy to read?


5. Are the colours, fonts and styles consistent?


6. Are the calls to action on various pages clear enough?


7. Do all links work?


8. Are there more internal links you can add between pages within your site to help navigation along?


9. Do external links to other websites open in new browser windows?


10. Is the phone number / other contact information on the site correct?

Etc. Etc.

LAUNCH

Once you are satisfied that the completed website is exactly what you want and that it works correctly you can give the go-ahead for the site to be launched or published. This essentially means that the files are transferred from a development server (PC) to a host server where it will be accessible by the web surfing public.

Once launched, another test is required to ensure everything is there and working.

POST-LAUNCH - MARKETING

There is more work to do. Your web programmer has to submit your site to search engines and you begin with the marketing of your site:

• Get links on other sites


• Add it to your social profiles


• Add it to your email signature files


• Tell others about your site in any way you can think of


• Create a paid search engine campaign

MAINTENANCE

The work is never done. As soon as the site is live, the maintenance plan kicks into gear. Readers and search engines look for new content and changes in the site. Keep it current and respond on the site to what your target audience want or the to the changes in your business. Keep it fresh!

OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES

Here is other blog link that may be useful?
Thinking Like a Search Engine

I have most likely forgotten some useful things, but that is the blessing of social media - someone will catch it and add it as a comment to this note. Good luck Leon. And Skype me if you're stuck!